title: Past and present of adolescence in society: the 'teen brain' debate in perspective.
abstract: Understood as the stage in individual life comprised between physiological puberty (a "natural" condition) and the recognition of the adult status (a "cultural" construction), adolescence has been envisaged as a universal condition, a stage in human development to be found in all societies and historical moments. Nevertheless, anthropological founding's across space and times depict a more complex panorama. The large variety of situations can be grouped into five big models of adolescence, which correspond to different types of society: "puber" from the primitive stateless societies; "ephebe" from ancient states; "boy and girl" from pre-industrial rural societies; "teenager" from the first industrialisation process and "youngsters" from modern post-industrial societies. In order to describe the features of these five models of youth, this article presents a series of ethnographical examples to illustrate the enormous plasticity of adolescence in past and present. This perspective is to be considered as the psycho-social and cultural environment for adolescent brain development, that will be discussed in depth along in this special issue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography and Sociology, University of Lleida, Pl. Victor Siurana 1, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. feixa@geosoc.udl.cat
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feixa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent / Q000502:physiology*; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development; D003423:Critical Period, Psychological; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values